


Center of the ring

by OctoRabbit (FeralFighter)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Child Abuse, Galra Keith (Voltron), Kidnapping, M/M, Runaway to the circus, circus AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-02-08 15:42:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18626251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralFighter/pseuds/OctoRabbit
Summary: At one point of their lives children dream of running away from the circus; to travel the world, to do incredible feats with fearsome beasts, fly through the air, to entertain people who would cheer, praise, and beg for more in dazzling lights and gleeful euphoria.Takashi Shirogane ran away to the circus, full of hopes and aspirations; he wanted to make people smile.





	1. Chapter 1

At one point of their lives children dream of running away to the circus; to travel the world, to do incredible feats with fearsome beasts, fly through the air, to entertain people who would cheer, praise, and beg for more in dazzling lights and gleeful euphoria.

Takashi Shirogane ran away to the circus, full of hopes and aspirations; he wanted to make people smile.

Instead he found himself hiding under the bleachers, skulking around to loot through the bags and pockets of the paying audience as they cheered and hollered at the performance before them.

This was not the dream he imagined. This was petty criminal work, but the words of Ringmaster Muir rung through his head.

‘Kid, if ya plan on bein’ one of us, ya gotta get yer hands dirty. See all them suckers comin’ in? All of ‘em are filthy rich, ere for a good time, an’ will probably eat some fancy schmancy caviar after th’ show. They ain't gonna worry ‘bout missin a few bucks, especially when we got so many mouths tah feed. Ya gotta pull yer weight if you wanna get fed.’

Shiro felt rotten, his parents taught him better than to steal, but he learned the hard way of what happens when you defy Mr Muir. He went hungry that day, and the bruise he earned still ached as he snuck his hand into a woman's bag, digging out her purse and swiping all the notes and coins. He hastily crammed the money into his pocket before carefully placing the purse back before moving onto the next victim. The crowd screamed and cheered at the show, making Shiro flinch and nerves rattle though his body as he fished through someone's coat pocket and grabbed the loose change.

‘That should be enough.’ Shiro thought as he counted the coins in his hands, mentally doing the maths of his scavenging. The bass from the loud music thrummed, the crowd erupting into another frenzy and rattled through his bones as he slipped under the tent and far away from his victims as possible.

Outside felt surreal; while everyone was condensed inside the brightly coloured marquee, barely a soul could be seen beyond the few merchants and game runners. With not much else to do Shiro wandered around the fairgrounds, trying to get as far away from the tent as possible.

Shiro decided on checking out the sideshow acts, or what was still there when everyone had gone for the main event; the world's strongest man and the bearded lady had probably left their posts but it never hurts to check. In the week and a half that Shiro had been with the circus, there was a lot of attractions he had yet to see.

Much to his disappointment on arrival, the sideshow had packed up for the night. Shiro couldn't help but frown and let his shoulders sag, he was really keen to see a bearded lady (did they even have one? He just assumed there would be because what kind of circus doesn't have a bearded lady!). With a sad groan and a kick of a pebble, the boy turned to leave till a noise caught his attention.

It was quiet, but he definitely heard the sound of sobbing coming from one of the wagons covered with a large cloth. With childlike curiosity Shiro stepped towards the wagon, small hands gripping the cloth and tugging it down to reveal the mystery underneath.

To his surprise inside the cage of the wagon was a boy, or what resembled a boy if you ignore the purple skin, and pointed elf-like ears, curled up and crying in the middle of the cage. He couldn't have been any older than 7

“Hey, are you okay?” Shiro asked, startling the child who flinched and slowly raised his head, his bright yellow, almost illuminate eyes just added to the shock factor. “Oh wow, your costume is amazing!”

“It's not a costume.” the boy whined as he began sobbing again.

“Huh?”

“Please, you gotta get me out of here, I want to go home to my daddy.” the caged boy begged as he started wailing again. Shiro had to plug his ears with his fingers to block out the shrill cries. 

“Hey hey, it's gonna be ok. Just calm down and I'll get you out.” Shiro bargained.

The boy continued to cry for a couple more minutes before finally settling, tears and snot staining his purple face. “O-*hic* Okay.”

Removing his fingers from his ears, Shiro inspected the wagon to look for the lock, successfully spotting a slot lock at the very top of the cage. Shiro nimbly climbed up, though was quite clumsy at fiddling with the lock that he could only just reach, the money in his pockets jingled loudly.

“Oi, what do ya think yer doin’!” a voice snapped, startling Shiro into losing his balance and landed on his back hard. It was none other than Mr Muir who was leering at him with a fury.

“M-Mr Mui-” Shiro was cut off by a hard kick to the side.

“Ya thievin’ li’l cunt! Tryna steal me newest attraction are ya??”

Shiro groaned as he tried to push himself off the ground, a few coins spilling from his hoodie pocket. “No sir, I- I just heard him crying and I-” another kick to the face. And another. And another.

“Don't lie to me boy! I don't ever wanna see ya touchin' that wagon again or I'll have yer fuckin' head!” Muir spat, giving Shiro one last hard kick before crouching down and grabbing Shiro by the collar. “Ya better have money this time, or ya in for another floggin’.” 

With a feeble groan Shiro moved a shaky hand into his pocket and grabbed out the stolen money to hand to his boss. Muir’s furious face quickly morphed into greedy glee as he snatched it out of his hand.

“Good job kid, looks like yer eatin’ tonight.” was all he said as he released Shiro, who dropped back down, and walked away with money in hand.

With a gurgled croak Shiro raised a hand and rubbed the blood that was seeping from his busted lip, his tongue flicked along his teeth and to his dismay found 2 had come loose and one missing.

He wants to go home.

“Are you alright?” the boy in the cage squeaked, small purple clawed hands gripping the bars.

“I'm fantastic.” Shiro chuckled, bitter and hollow.

“Sorry.” The boy croaked, sounding like another wave of tears was about to break though.

“Don't be, I should have known better.” Shiro could feel piercing gold eyes on him as he remained sprawled out on the ground, pebbles and sharp rocks digging into his back in the most uncomfortable places. “I should have known better than to run away from home, I imagine you feel the same.”

“I didn't run away, the scary loud man took me.”

That grabbed Shiro's attention, sitting up immediately (regretting how fast he was as his sides hurt and his vision spun) and turned to the boy in disbelief. “What?”

“I never get to go outside around other people, but daddy thought it would be okay to take me to see the circus for my birthday because there's a lot of people dressed up in costumes but I got lost and the scary man found me and he promised lollies and he'd find daddy… I didn't get any lollies and he just keeps me in a cage for people to stare and throw food at.”

Shiro's mind was reeling at the story. It didn't take long for him to realize this circus was dodgy with how thing’s ran here, but this was a literal kidnapping.

“He just took you?”

The boy made a noise to confirm.

“And you said you're not wearing a costume… you actually have purple skin?”

The boy confirmed again with hesitance.

With a hiss Shiro stood up, ignoring Muir's warning as he grabbed onto the bars and soaking in the strange appearances of the boy.

“Amazing “ he breathed, eyes widened in awe. “I'll get you out of here and get you back to your dad.”

The boy pulled a face, clearly not fully trusting what was being promised.

“I mean it, I'll get you out. I'm Shiro by the way.” Shiro introduced extending his hand between the cage bars.

Purple and gold eyes stared at the hand warily, hesitation for a long moment before finally a clawed hand raised and grabbed onto it and shook. “Keith.”

“It's nice to meet you Keith.” Shiro grinned. It was the first time since he got here that he felt such a genuine smile on himself.

“Hey kid, you better get over here if you want to eat!”

Shiro turned to see one of the acrobatic performers calling out to him, and as if on cue his tummy rumbled.

“I guess I better eat.” Shiro chuckled nervously. “Have you eaten?”

Keith shook his head.

“I'll be right back.” Shiro said as he hobbled over towards the tents where the rest of the performers were, leaving Keith alone in his cage.

He didn't expect him to return. With a sigh Keith sat on the straw that filled his prison floor, nothing but a small water tough and a raggedy blanket he swaddled himself in to protect him from the slight evening chill.

This was his life now, a monster in a freak show for people to laugh and throw things at. He dreaded knowing this was how he would spend the rest of his life, away from his dad who loved him so.

So caught up in his thoughts, Keith jumped when he heard someone knocking on the bars. Snapping his head up he saw Shiro had returned with a plate in hand. A small portion of steamed vegetables and a lone sausage.

Shiro gave Keith a sheepish smile. “Wanna go halfsies?”


	2. Chapter 2

A hot sharp sting bursted across Shiro's cheek as the sound of the slap rung in his ear. He stumbled back from the force but held his ground. He was getting too familiar with the brute force of adults.

“Ya fuckin’ useless bottom feeder, t'fuck is wrong with ya gettin’ caught like dat!”

“I'm sorry sir.”

“It's th’ third fuckin’ time this week, keep it up an’ I'll throw ya in with th’ lions!” the Ringmaster jabbed his finger hard against Shiro's chest before stomping off, a rainbow of swears spilling from him.

Shiro groaned as he raised a hand to his cheek, hissing at the sting.

Things had barely improved in the time he got here, still resorting to being a petty thief just so he could eat, and Ringmaster Muir seems to have it out for him, finding any excuse to scream and hit him; but he did find companionship with some of the performers. The acrobats in particular were kind and were happy to teach him the ropes, saying he has promise in acrobatics. At the moment they were starting him off with flexibility training which left him sore afterwards, but it did fill him with a sense of purpose.

If only he could say the same thing for Keith who remained trapped in his cage. 

When it came to Keith, Shiro felt guilty for a number of reasons. Although it didn't turn out how he expected, Shiro came here willingly while Keith was taken from his father. While he gets to roam the showgrounds freely and check out the sights, Keith is treated like an animal for people to ogle. When Shiro tried to bust him out, he doomed Keith to a life of more restraints.

What a cruel and miserable life to live.

He could see the crowd surrounding Keith's wagon, adults would gasp in intrigue, while the kids would laugh, and the odd skeptic criticizing the validity of the boys appearance, claiming to see uneven splotches of purple paint.

It was the angry shout that caught Shiro's attention, and didn't think twice as he rushed over to see the commotion, not at all surprised to see someone had thrown food at Keith. Hot chips littered the cage as Keith was covered with gravy, and the boy was livid as a group of teenages laughed, only making him screech more.

“Hey!” Shiro snapped. “Apologize to Keith right now!”

One of the teenagers snorted, “Chill out squirt, just having a li'l fun. Kid shouldn't be pretending to be an animal if he don't want people to treat him like one.”

Anger filled Shiro's veins, white hot and ready to irrupt. “Apologize. NOW!”

“Aww, you upset over your little boyfriend-pet-thing? What do you expect when he's dressed up like that and working at a carni.” Another teen jeered.

Rage blinded Shiro at this point, fists balled and slung back ready to strike one of the jerks until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Now now, that's not a very nice way to treat performers, especially the kids.” the squeaky voice of one of the clowns interjected. “Now run along before we start anymore trouble.”

“Whatever.” the first teen rolled his eyes as the group walked away. The dispute ending seemed to have encouraged the rest of the crowd to move on, knowing the entertainment of drama had ceased.

Heat was still coursing through Shiro even as his tension eased from his muscles.

He wants to kill them.

Grab a pipe and crack it over their stupid heads till their skulls smashed open and their brai-

He snapped out of his violent thoughts when the clown patted him on the shoulder.

"Easy there kiddo, don't go doing anything you'll regret later." The clown warned, her voice a lot more natural than before, heavily accented. "Just take deep breaths. In…. And out."

Shiro mimicked the clown; taking deep breaths and puffing his chest out, and exhaling after holding for a few seconds, and then repeat. It cleared his head and the boiling rage had ebbed away.

"Thank you… and sorry." Shiro said, ashamed of his behavior.

"All good. Kids like those are a bunch of shitheads anyway, but you need to learn to pick your battles."

"Yes ma'am."

"As for your friend-" The clown pulled a hanky from her sleeve and offered it to Shiro.

He grabbed it out of her hand only to find it attached to another. And another. And another.

The string of hankies seemed never ending which had the clown giggling with glee. 

"He's not that filthy." The clown chimed as Shiro continued to pull out more, becoming distressed by the sheer number of handkerchiefs that never seemed to end.

From his wagon, Keith watched on in equal disbelief.

Eventually Shiro gave up in his endeavours staring in horror at the mound of cloth he had pulled and still more to come.

The clown giggled, and with a snap of her fingers the string of hankies began shooting back up her sleeve until only one was in her hand. 

Again she offered it to Shiro who refused to take her offering until she proved it was detached from the rest. Shiro took it hesitantly.

"If you find anymore troublemakers just come find me or any of the other adults." The clown advised. She twirled around in a comedic manner and waddled away.

'Yeah sure, adults will help .' Shiro groaned mentally with an eyeroll, bringing his attention back to Keith who was sitting and pouting in his cage.

"She's weird."

Shiro snorted. "She's a clown."

"Exactly."

Licking the hanky, Shiro gestured Keith closer. The boy scooted closer, the chain rattling as he moved.

Shiro eyed the chain that linked one of the bars of the cage to Keith's leg. Guilt kicked in knowing he was the cause of it. The cause of the metal shackle digging into purple flesh, leaving gnarly wounds that have been ignored treatment. The only consolation is that the weather is too cold for flies to swarm.

Shaking his head he focused back at his job at trying to wipe off the gravy as best he could.

"He hit you again." Keith pointed out. 

Shiro paused. He should address what had happened but the story was getting repetitive. He remained silent as he tried (futilely) to wipe away the slop on Keith's face and then his tattered shirt, knowing the stain won't come out with meer wiping with a dry rag.

Keith took the hint. "How's practice?"

"Fine." Shiro perked up. "Still working on flexibility and strength. I can do a backwards handstand now."

Keith's eyes brightened. "Show?"

Ceasing his cleaning endeavours, Shiro took a few steps back, leaned backwards till his back curved and hands planted firmly on the ground.

"Woah!"

Shiro smirked, taking a few steps in his new position before his arms gave out and he dropped. The small joyful laugh he got from Keith made this rotten day a bit more pleasant.

The chain rattled as Keith attempted to copy Shiro. Mimicking Shiro a couple times only lead to him tumbling before his hands could even touch the bottom of the wagon. Laying on his back and trying to push himself up that way showed more fruitful results until his thin weak arms couldn't support his weight and collapsed onto straw. Keith groaned in defeat as he tried to blow a lock of hair from his face.

Shiro couldn't help but laugh, earning a sour look from Keith.

"Don't give me that, I was doing the same thing. You need to work on your flexibility and strength first!"

Keith whined.

"Come on, I can teach you ways to improve both so you can do it."

Keith perked up at the offer. Being holled up in a cage 24/7 left him antsy and unstimulated, the offer of any form of activity was greatly welcomed.

"Can you do backflips?" Keith asked eagerly.

Shiro snorted. "Of course."

"Can you show me?"

"...No."

Keith pouted. "Why not?"

"Because uh...you know, training had me puffed out, and I'm not in the mood." Shiro wanted to kick himself for lying. He just wanted to show off! 

Keith slumped again. He picked up a chip with a clawed hand, toying with it briefly before throwing it through the bars without thought.

Shiro clued onto the mood shift, giving Keith a questioning look. Keith eyed him, expression becoming sour once again, something that was oh too familiar and quickly becoming a default. It made the boy seem significantly older than 7.

"I want to get out." Keith murmured.

"I know."

"I don't even care if I never see dad again, I just want to get out of this cage. It's scary, I can't play with you, or fight Mr Muir for being mean."

Shiro chuckled. "Probably for the best on that last one."

"The worst part is that when you're not here, I'm alone."

"...We're working on it."

"Sometimes I feel like you're never going to come back. You'll finally go back home abd leave me behind."

The confession took Shiro off guard. Was that really how Keith felt about him? That eventually he would leave him there to rot away in a cage?

"I'm not going anywhere without you Keith." Shiro started, looking at the boy dead in the eye. "We'll figure something out. I know it's slow, but I promised to get you out, and get you back home."

For all of Shiro's bravado, Keith remained skeptic.

"How?"

"It'll take time but… I have an idea."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a lot longer to get out than intended, I kinda got into a slump lately, but seeing people leave nice reviews actually helped kick my butt into gear so thank you so much for that!
> 
> Follow me on  
> Tumblr - @Octorabbit  
> Twitter - @Octo_Rabbit  
> Instagram - @Octo_rabbit

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on  
> Tumblr - @Octorabbit  
> Twitter - @Octo_Rabbit  
> Instagram - @Octo_rabbit


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